Mahila Shakti Kendra will be set-up at village level: Budget

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget Speech 2017-18 announced corpus of Rs 500 crore for setting up Mahila Shakti Kendras in the 14 lakh ICDS Anganwadi Centres at village level.

These kendras will provide one stop convergent support services for empowering rural women with opportunities for skill development, employment, health, nutrition and digital literacy.

Key Facts

The budget allocation for the welfare of Women and Children under various schemes across all the Ministries the has been increased from Rs. 1,56,528 crores in 2016-17 to Rs. 1,84,632 crores in 2017-18.

It includes allocation of Rs 2700 crore for Maternity Benefit Programme under which Rs. 6000 each will be transferred directly to bank accounts of pregnant women undergoing institutional delivery and vaccinate their children.

16745 crore has been allocated for the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme. The allocation for flagship Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme has also been doubled to Rs 200 crore.

Allocation for the Child Protection Scheme also has seen a substantially increased to Rs. 648 crore as compared to Rs 397 crore in 2106-17.